Automatic horn.



G. F. LONG.

AUTOMATIC HORN.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30, 1910.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914,

2 SHEETS-43111131. 1.

gouty wows:

G. P. LONG.

AUTOMATIC HORN.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. so, 1910.

1 ,Q9Q08Q. 1 Patented Mar. 10, 19M

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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GEORGE LON G, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., .ASSIGNOR 'I'O GOTTFRIED PIEL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC HORN.

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Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Mar. 10,1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. Lone, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan of the city of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Horns, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to horns such as'are employed upon automobiles, motor boats, and under various other circumstances for the purpose of giving signals.

The primary object of the invention'is to provide a horn which will be operated by mechanical means and without the use of compressed air, steam or electric current.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a manually actuated horn, which will suddenly attain, by one movement of the operator a high-pitch carrying tone and in which the intonation will continue over a material length of time without the necessity of any further actuation on the part of the operator and it is still a further ob ect of my invention to provide a horn in which the operator may positively accelerate the pitch of the horn after its initial operation, and in which this acceleration, either pos tive or negative, will be approximately uniform irrespective of irregularity in applying force to the device.

The various other objects of the invention will be more fully set forth in the following description of one form of mechanism embodying the invention, which consists in the new and novel features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a horn embodying my invention partly in section. Fig. 2 is a view on the line 22 of Fig. 1, the diaphragm being shown partly broken away. Fig. 3 represents an end view of the actuating mechanism for the rotatable.disk. Fig. 4 is a side elevation partly in section of a horn embodying a different form of operating mechanism. Figs. 5 and 6 are views on the lines 5-5 and 6-6 of Fig. 4 respectively.

Referring to the drawings, the hell or resonator of the horn is secured by any suitable means as the bolts 2, to a cylindrical casing 3. A thin diaphragm 4, preferably metal, is secured in any suitable manner at one end of the bell, preferably between the drum and the casing and is held under suitable tension by any suitable means as the screws 5. Secured to the center of the diaphragm is a bushing 6, having a wear )iece in the form of a pin 7 mounted adustably therein and adapted to be locked in its adjusted position by any suitable means as the jam nut 8, so that any movement whatever of the in will be instantly communicated to the iaphragm and produce vibration thereof. The pin projects a suitable distance from the diaphragm and is adapted to engage with the roughened or irregular surface. Said surface is prefer ably formed on a plate or disk 9 secured to the head by screws 10. The head is mounted upon a shaft or spindle 12 having a bearing in a bracket 14 and upon an adjustable pivot screw 15 secured to the end plate of the cylinder 0r casing. A gear 16 on the spindle meshes with a gear 17 upon a stud or countershaft 18 mounted in the end wall of the cylinder or casing. A driving pinion 19 and ratchet 20 are looselymounted upon said stud 18 and are rotated by an actuating rack bar 21 movable vertically in the casing and provided at its upper end with apush button 22 or a similar device. The ratchet is operativcly connected with the gear 17 by a pawl 24, which is pivoted upon the gear 17 and is normally held in engagement with the ratchet by a spring 25 so that the car will be actuated when the actuating ar is forced in one direction, but which will permit the actuating bar to be retracted to its starting position without operating said gear. A spring 26 or other suitable means may be employed for retracting or returning the actuating bar to its original position.

As shown in Fig. 1, the head is mounted eccentrically upon the shaft, but it is ob vious that the head can be mounted concentrically thereon as shown in Fig. 4 if desired. The head is normally pressed into engagement with the vibrating pin or contact memher by any suitable means as the pivot screw 15, which is mounted on the rear wall of the cylinder or casing and provides a bearing for the rear end of the spindle 12. A suitable ball bearing 29 may be interposed between a collar 30 provided upon the bracket 14 and a flange sleeve 31 secured to the spindle in any suitable manner to take up the end thrust.

The elevations and depressionsof the roughened or irregular surface of the plate 9-may be in the form of corrugations,

grooves or projections of any desiredsection, and the corrugations may be arranged re ularly or irregularly.

t is obvious that the amplitude of the vibrations of the diaphragm will be deter mined by the movement of the contact member or pin, and that the impacts upon the diaphragm contact are of continuously changing frequency due to the, character 7 of the driving mechanism and that the signal produced is of continuously varying pitch and amplitudethus producing a sustained note in the sense of continuous sound.

.By means of this construction the rotation of the head and plate 9 will cause vibration of the diaphragm, thus giving the warning signal. As soon as the rack has been forced to its lowermost position and is released it is immediately retracted by the spring to its original position, thus permitting another signal to be given. When the surface of plate 9 becomes worn it can be replaced and any wear upon the contact member or vibrating pin can be taken up by the screw threads provided thereon.

I make my diaphra m of a relatively light weight so that it will have a minimum deadening or dampening effect upon the vibrations of the same and of as high an elasticthe vibratory movement necessary to produce a continuous sound, and thezstriking of the diaphragm contact by a heavy mass a will cause it to send forth sound waves of relatively great kinetic energy, which can travel relatively long distances before the I friction of the air or other mediums through. which it passes can act upon the same to destroy it. With this object in view, I make.

the disk 11 of as heavy a mass as can be conveniently set in rotation by manual or foot actuation of the pedal 22. An'operator pressing upon the pedal 22 and depressing the same through a normal space of 5 or 6 inches will generate an excess force and the disk 11 will act as a fly wheel, and an energy receiving and imparting means or a reservoir to store the surplus amount of energy, which is gradually usedup in the production of sound waves and in the friction created by the actuation of the mechanism itself. Irrespective of the irregularity of applying energy, to the pedal 22-the tendency of the heavy fly wheel will be to assume a uniformly accelerated motion both in speeding up to its maximum and in coming to rest. Aside from any theory of operation, I have demonstrated practically that by making the actuating' disk 11 of a materially heavy mass and applying the power intermittently, I obtain a penetrating or carrying effect of the sound waves not character-- 'izmg devices in which use is made of an actuating member of small size and Weight tnat is driven by power continuously applied as by an electric motor.

Although I have shown modifications of the mechanism embodying my invention, it is obvious that various other changes and modifications within the skill of the mechanic may be made ,without departing from the spirit of the invention provided the means set forth in the following claims be employed.

I claim asmy inventionz' 1. A horn comprising a metal diaphragm, an actuating member secured to said diaphragm and projecting perpendicularly therefrom and comprising a contact member adjustable with relation to the diaphragm and movable therewith, and. a weighted disk having its face parallel with the diaphragm and provided with I a roughened surface adapted to engage said member and produce vibratory movements of said diaphragm when the disk is moved in a plane approximately parallel to said diaphragm.

2. In a horn, the combination with a metal diaphragm, an actuating member secured to said diaphragm and comprising a projecting contact member movable \Vltll the diaphragm and adjustable with relation thereto, of a member movable in a plane parallel with the plane of the diaphragm and-comprising a detachable plate having a roughened surface adapted to engage the said pin.

3. A horn comprising a metal diaphragm under tension, an adjustable contact member secured to said diaphragm, a rotatable shaft, a plate secured to said shaft having a roughenedsurface adapted to engage with said pin, means for rotating said plate, and means engaging said shaft to move same "longitudinally.

a. A horn comprising a diaphragm, an ad ustable pin secured to said diaphragm, a disk havin aroughened surface in en 'gagement with said pin and mounted upon a rotatable sp ndle, and means forrotating said spindle and disk comprising a vertically moving rack operatively connected therewith through a pawl and ratchet connection; j 5. A diaphragm horn, comprising a casing, a metal diaphragm secured to said casiat ing, a resonator secured to said casing, a wear-piece secured to the diaphragm and projecting into the casing, a weighted disk having a pro ection engaging with said Lisa wear-piece, a driving gear operatively conneeted with said disk and mounted upon a counter-shaft in said casing, a ratchet and pinion loosely mounted on said shaft, a pawl on said driving gear, engaging with the ratchet, a vertically moving rack connected with said pinion, and means to automatically retract the rack to its non-operative position substantially as described.

6. A horn comprising a bell, a casing secured to said bell, a diaphragm between the bell and easing, a wear-piece secured to the diaphragm and projectin into the casing, a rotatable spindle mounte in said casing, a disk on said spindle, a roughened surface plate detachably secured to said disk adapted to engage with said wear-piece to vibrate the diaphragm, means for adjusting said spindle longitudinally in its bearings, and means for rotating said spindle.

7 In a device of the character described, a diaphragm, energy transmitting means, and ener receiving, storing and imparting means a apted to receive energy from the transmitting means,.said second means being always free immediately to transmit said energy to the diaphragm.

8. In an alarm or signaling apparatus, a diaphragm, a wear piece carried by said diaphragm, a rotor adapted to actuate said wear-piece to vibrate the diaphragm, said rotor constituting a heavy fly wheel having a relatively large mass, and manually actuated means for intermittently energizing said fly wheel and vibrating the diaphragm for a period of time extending beyond the period during which energy is applied to said fly wheel.

' 9. In an alarm horn or signaling apparatus, a diaphragm, a rotatable member adapted to vibrate said diaphragm, and actuating means intermittently in operative engagement with said diaphragm vibrating member, said member constituting an energy reservoir having capacity to produce continuous vibration of the diaphragm during intermittent movement of said actuating means of suflicient frequency to generate a continuous note.

10. In a device of the character described, a diaphragm, and means for vibratin the diaphragm, comprisingenergy transmitting -means, and energy receiving and imparting means of large mass receiving the energy from thetransmitting means, and adapted to resist the influence of irregularly applied energy and to move with gradually increasing and decreasing velocity.

11. In a diaphragm horn, the combination with a diaphragm having a wear-piece, of a rotary member having projections for engaging the wear-piece to vibrate the diaphragm, a shaft fixed to said rotary member, a journaling bracket for supporting said shaft, a pinion fixed to said shaft, :1 second shaft, a gear wheel on said second shaft operatively connected with said pinion, a driving pinion loosely mounted on said second shaft, a one way connection between said gear wheel and driving pinion and a manually actuated rack operatively connected to said driving pinion to rotate the same.

12. In a diaphragm horn, the combination with a diaphragm, of a diaphragm actuatin member comprisin a freely rotatable shaft having a head anc a pinion fixed thereto, a journaling bracket for said shaft, means for preventing longitudinal movement of the shaft, a manually actuated reciprocating member, and means between said member and pinion adapted to be brought into operative engagement with said pinion when the member is moving in one direction and permitting the disengaging of the member with said pinion when the member is moving in the opposite direction.

13. In a device of the class described, the combination with a vibratory diaphragm and an actuating member spaced therefrom, of a wear-piece carried by said diaphragm, said wear-piece comprisin an adjustable pin projecting a substantial cistance from said diaphragm and adapted to be laterally moved by the actuating member to vibrate the diaphragm and means engagin the side of the pin and the adjacent face 0 the dia phra m for transmitting lateral thrust direct from the pin to the diaphragm.

14. In a device of the class described, the combination with a vibratory diaphragm, of a wear-piece carried by said diaphragm, said wear-piece comprising a pin threaded through the diaphragm and having a portion projecting therefrom adapted to be engaged by an actuatin member to vibrate the diaphragm and a s eeve partly inclosing the projectin portion of said pin and bearing on the iaphragm to transmit thrusts on the pin to the diaphragm.

This specification witnessed this 21st day 

